Former First Lady Owns California Pizza

Maria Shriver has recently invested in a pizza company called Blaze Pizza. This joint has been known as one of a kind with its popular build-your-own pizza idea. Among the recent elite investors that went along with Shiver is Tom Werner, the Boston Red Sox co-owner, John Davis, Andrew Cheng from Panda Express and of course, the son of the famous Schwarzenegger, Patrick.

"We love pizza. My son and I are really excited to be in the pizza business." Said Shriver.

Rick and Elise Wetzel are the founders of both Wetzel’s Pretzels and Blaze pizza. The concept was started by the two with a quick and easy cooking method that used new-fangled 800-degree ovens. With this method, the pizzas only took 2 minutes to cook and can be priced as low as $6.85 for every 11-inch pizza.

"You can't even get to your table before the pie is ready," Wetzel said.

Over 10 stores were opened by the Lessing’s Hospitality Group around New York and Connecticut last Feb 27 while 6 more were going to be opened by John Walch in Milwaukee and Madison Wisconsin.

"It's a big idea and it wants to go fast, and the best idea to go fast is with franchising," said Wetzel.

National Restaurant Association’s Pizzeria Council Pete Lachapelle said that the pizza industry is worth $43 billion dollars and now has a 70,000 count on independent and chain pizza places.

"Personally, I prefer your stereotypical old school pizzerias, where you walk in and tell them what you want, but certainly that has its place. It's a quick easy way to buy a whole pizza at lunchtime as opposed to a slice." He said and added. “Because everything is custom made, if you want your own veggie pizza you can build your own."

Film producer Davis also indicated that this new innovations in pizza is like the new age of technology in this industry. "My kids don't watch TV on the TV; they do it on the computer, so they can watch what they want," he said. "This is an extension of that. People are getting exactly what they want, and in two minutes."